How many of you worked in fast food (or customer service) when you were a teen? Were customers way more polite than today?

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Odd-Edge-2093@reddit

We dealt with assholes, too. They just had perms and feathered hair.

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Friendly-Maybe-9272@reddit

Heck yeah, I couldn't imagine either working or expecting any of my kids to work in a fast food place. I'm Gen jones

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I worked at a little pizza place for my first job in a suburb of DC in the mid-80s. (We got an outstanding review in the Washingtonian one night that I cooked.) I did every job in that place, but I liked cooking the most because I didn't have to deal with customers. Most were pretty cool, but there were always a few unreasonable assholes. I was just a 16-year old kid trying to do a good job. It felt impossible to make some people happy

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AngryK9_@reddit

I worked at a Taco Bell in 1991. Most people were not bad, but we would usually get at least one person a week who just went full Karen sometimes for no reason. Later I was a cashier at a hardware store for a little while and people were generally okay until the registers got backed up. Then they would usually get kind of rude when having to wait. It wasn't until 1995 when I started working in the airline industry that I started to see really nasty people. Like the guy who got mad because his flight was canceled and he ended up punching a gate agent. Airport police had something to say to that guy...

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beaus_tender_0c@reddit

I worked in pizza delivery and as a cook at a mom and pop pizza shop in high school. My customers were great. I think it’s because we all lived in the neighborhood and went to the same schools, parks, dances etc.

Worked in downtown Pittsburgh in a small retail computer store for 5 years in the early 90s. Most of my customers were business people and they were almost all cool. We also had a few regular crazy street people who would visit us from time to time but we treated them with kindness and respect and they mostly kept themselves under control.

I have noticed politeness dropped a bunch when I moved to the Miami area in the 2000s. More people, more money and more rudeness.

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Striking_Debate_8790@reddit

I worked in restaurants as a busgirl and server, fast food, herfys burgers and in a retail hardware store from 1973-1982. The only rude customers I remember is in the hardware store because some of the people didn’t believe I knew anything about lumber products. They would ask to talk to a man. But that was 45 years ago so that’s how things were.
People didn’t eat out as much so they were typically much nicer than they are now.

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wharleeprof@reddit (OP)

That people eating out less often is a good point. It used to be more special (even fast food) so people were more on their best behavior.

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Used-Inspection-1774@reddit

We ate out -maybe- once a MONTH growing up. Carryout pizza every other Friday.

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Nightcalm@reddit

They were rude in the mid 70's. Anyone that hates waiting in line is a candidate for rude. Cities are full of them.

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truthcopy@reddit

They were just as rude. I worked at McDonalds in the late 80s, and had a guy threaten to shoot me because I wouldn’t take two Monopoly coupons.

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purple_sangria@reddit

I did a short stint at McDonald’s in high school and the customers weren’t that rude. My boss on the other hand was a total b…

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Lameladyy@reddit

Yes and no. I worked in fast food during high school. Some customers were polite, others not so polite. It did seem that people said please, TY, and excuse me more frequently back then. Now I’ve seen my boomer age brother in law snap his fingers at servers in sit down restaurants, and slip a $50 to a hostess (in front of his wife) while asking for her number. He’s a pig. However, he’s always been one so it has nothing to do with the era in which we are living.

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Sacred_B@reddit

The people were the same, the staff were more polite but also more likely to fuck with your food.

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jamesgotfryd@reddit

Started in the mid '80's. Worked fast food (McDonald's), department store clerk, furniture delivery, cook at a golf course, cook at a truck stop, and slung tires a tire shop. People are much more rude today, mostly the 30's and under crowd that never had to work for anything.

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ssibalssibalssibal@reddit

I did 3 days in a fast food place. I quit and did my best to find employment anywhere else. I didn't encounter any rudeness but wasn't there long enough. I can say that being a receptionist in hair salons for 10+ yrs meant dealing some pretty interesting people

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Additional_Fox463@reddit

Yes people were nicer and we all knew this was not a living wage job and was never ment to be a living wage job. Something most need to learn.

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mickeyflinn@reddit

Hell no

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mickeyflinn@reddit

O

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Severe_Performer_726@reddit

Getting an unannounced bus while working at McDonald’s in the 80’s helped prepare me for life. We had a few rude people but it was usually because the staff had messed up pretty bad. You couldn’t pay me to go back to the service industry now.

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stuck_behind_a_truck@reddit

Taco Bell, and not that I recall. The stories I remember are: 1) the dude getting a BJ while waiting at the drive thru window 2) The member of poison who had so many groupies pour out of his limo they had to be sitting on laps. And they were all perfectly average. 3) The guy who always ordered 3 tacos. Nice guy. 4) The guy who paid with silver pennies. I still have those.

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wharleeprof@reddit (OP)

silver pennies! What a fun souvenir. Are they worth a lot?

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stuck_behind_a_truck@reddit

There are some that are worth a lot. Sadly, these are not Antiques Roadshow worthy. 😁

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dis690640450cc@reddit

Nope, the customers have always been assholes. I think everyone should work food service for at least a year so they can have some empathy for the people behind the counter.

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Lokean1969@reddit

People sucked then, they suck now. People have always sucked. A Babylonian trader would tell you the same, or an ancient Greek. Nothing new. The manner in which they suck has changed, but sucking isn't a modern invention. We get a front row seat with the advent of smartphones, so I think our exposure is increased. You don't have to be there in person, it's plastered all over social media. So we see it. A lot. Makes it look more common or worse than it was, but people have always sucked. Violence, mayhem, theft, all of it was there 1000 years ago. For as long as humans have been living together in organized groups, there have always been Karens.

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deignguy1989@reddit

Yeah- worked at McDonalds in HS and college. There were rude people back then , too, but not at the level I see people act like today.

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Intabih1@reddit

I worked the salad bar at a Bonanza. It was very quiet. Even when packed.

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Heavy_Spite2105@reddit

I worked at McDonalds and Taco Bell back in the 80's. I remember an old couple demanding that I sing happy anniversary to them while I was cleaning tables and sweeping up. I sang the Flintstones version. They hung out there for hours and wouldn't leave. People were still rude and impatient but the difference was workers rights. Taco Bell never closed even when we had a flood and we had water up to our ankles. Dangerous. I remember being sexually harassed by one of the team leads. I reported it to the store manager when he wouldn't stop. The team leads stated he had a crush on me and was just teasing me because he liked me. I still found that to be unacceptable and difficult to work with this person. We didn't have all the HR on boarding with the rules against harassment in those days. You just had to put up with it. Human beings were still rude but I definitely think customers are worse now with the Internet and social media. They will take video of you on your phone and put it on tik tok I went into pharmacy when I got out of HS. Pharmacy was much worse.

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Striking_Debate_8790@reddit

I worked in restaurants as a busgirl and server, fast food, herfys burgers and in a retail hardware store from 1973-1982. The only rude customers I remember is in the hardware store because some of the people didn’t believe I knew anything about lumber products. They would ask to talk to a man. But that was 45 years ago so that’s how things were.
People didn’t eat out as much so they were typically much nicer than they are now.

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blackpony04@reddit

Yes!

I waited tables for 3 years in HS and early college from 87-90, and people simply were not demanding. I hustled, don't get me wrong, but I have no memories of anyone being over the top and customers treated the eating out experience as something special. It was a Pizza Hut during its prime, so that may have contributed to that, but I also worked in retail from 90-91 and people were pleasant there, too.

I then worked in Cable TV from 1993 to 2010, and during those 17 years I totally noticed the shift. Your cable goes out in 1995? No worries, we can wait a couple days, the kids can read books. By 2010, ahhh no internet, what will I do with my children?!? Get this fixed NOW!!!! I became an expert in calming down Karens, and to this day, my wife gets a kick out of it when I use my "customer service voice" when talking. Talking with a smile is a tip I learned very early on, and it continues to serve me well even though I haven't dealt directly with customers since about 2016.

So yeah, people were chiller back in the day, and I will always say the Greatest Gen and even the Silent Gen were the best people to deal with because they lived thru the Great Depression and WWII so the little stuff just had no priority to them. It's only later generations that became demanding, but that's a conversation for another thread.

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sungodly@reddit

This was not my experience working customer service for the cable company in the mid '90s. Some people were chill but plenty were assholes. And I specifically remember people complaining that their kids had nothing to do when the cable was out.

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BoldBoimlerIsMyHero@reddit

80s McDonald’s. Had a customer shove a Big Mac in our manager’s face. 90s fish and chips shop, had a customer tell one of my coworkers I needed to get laid because I told the coworker to not take the kitchen trash through the dining room.

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themcp@reddit

I was a cashier at a fast food snack bar (not a brand name franchise) in 1986. Customers were, generally, awful. I was very glad when I could lock the door and refuse to let people in - they'd continue banging on the glass door and demanding to be let in for "just one little thing" half an hour after we closed and the grill was turned off.

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MowgeeCrone@reddit

Yep. I had one fiesty customer in that time and it was because she tried to scam us and I stood my ground.

I was always taught to sit the bills on the til and not place it in the draw until after I'd counted out the change. She wasn't happy when she claimed she'd given me a 50 when I held up the 20 that I'd yet placed inside.

Other than that the worst customers were the ones that didn't say hello back after I'd greeted them with a smile.

The worst customers in the supermarket were the ones wouldn't move their groceries forward so I could reach them without having to climb the counter. (Pre conveyer belt). I remember you Celia, you lazy bitch!

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MyriVerse2@reddit

Wow. Almost the same sitch as me, but I think in my case, the guy just truly believed he paid with a $100. I don't think he was out to scam us.

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MowgeeCrone@reddit

I does happen without malicious intention but the one who tried it on with me had a habit. Always rush hour, always a different server. She was hostile when placing her order. I was so sure of her dodgy-ness that when the owner came over to ask what the issue was I replied loudly, "this woman is trying to rip you off, mate."

Years later she came into another place I worked and I gave the owner a heads up. Owner told me it was her cousin, and agreed that yes she was indeed dodgy. I asked her infant son to stop tearing plants out of the garden. She didn't appreciate that and told her cousin that I laid hands on the child. Thankfully her cousin/my boss took my side. Absolute pond scum.

I'm so glad I no longer work in a service role. I wouldn't last long these days.

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Woorloc@reddit

I never complain, but I hate when I'm putting stuff on the conveyor inn Walmart and the cashier won't turn it on and move the groceries forward. Also fuck Celia.

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MowgeeCrone@reddit

I'll suggest they're a different breed of checkout chick these days.

Probably getting paid the same amount I did as a 14yo in the 80s too. Still, no excuse for spite.

Fucking move the belt, Sharon/Derek!

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PacRat48@reddit

Happened to me. I broke down the drawer and confirmed that the small pop wasn’t bought with a $50, it was bought with a $10.

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MowgeeCrone@reddit

Oh that's even cheekier.

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RickyBobbyBooBaa@reddit

I was a hairdresser for 15yrs, working with the public is shit, they're horrible, some are nice but then a bad one will come and it'll destroy your confidence.

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DesignNormal9257@reddit

I worked at a concession stand in a movie theater. I don’t remember anyone being rude. We also had to memorize all the prices and add up all the transactions in our heads.

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handsomeape95@reddit

I had the same experience working at the movie theater. I don't remember anyone being rude or anyone blowing up at us. The worst thing people did was dictate how much and where to put the butter on their popcorn. I worked the ticket booth and concession. All of our prices were in 25 cent increments, so the math was easy.

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DesignNormal9257@reddit

Same, but it’s funny to think about now because everything is so automated.

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MrMudgett@reddit

It was a different sort of rudeness, but it was always there in one form or another. What we struggled more with was mistreatment from the management. That shit was out of control.

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MrMackSir@reddit

I worked McD in the 80s as well. Generally the customers were not rude. If one was rude, it was more likely a person about my age. There were definitely some rude people out there coming into McD

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Chimer26@reddit

Not rude at all except one guy at the drive through because I was slow. But this was over 4 decades ago

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slop1010101@reddit

People were always rude, but now they seem more entitled than ever.

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splorp_evilbastard@reddit

There's more assholes today than there were when I worked food service from '89 to '02. This didn't mean they didn't exist then, just that there were fewer of them.

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NoHiggity@reddit

I worked customer service both in fast food and at a department store and people were honestly pretty rude. Just different rude.

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BoboliBurt@reddit

Yeah. I was threatened by Mike Ditka at my first customer service job. Seven years after he nearly ran me over at a crosswalk walk- I was in 4th grade.

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Dpgillam08@reddit

I will agree that customers are more hostile and aggressive. But we also have to recognize the quality of employee has gone to shit.

Last week, I went to McD for a single order of small fries for my granddaughter. After 10 min, I get someone else's order. Being nice, I tell them and wait for it to be fixed. 5 min later, I get another wrong order. 5 min later, I get another wrong order. Finally, the morons get it right. I bite my lip, take the bag, and walk away. The dipshit has the nerve to sarcastically say "you're welcome!"

When I was working there, any single part of that experience was grounds for immediate termination.

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og-lollercopter@reddit

Yep, this. People have always been rude and entitled and arrogant when it comes to dealing with customer service people. It feels more aggressive now, but that seems like everything nowadays. yells at cloud

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MrBrawn@reddit

While there are certainly exceptions, I think impatience is the difference. We didn't have TikTok brain yet.

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SnatchAddict@reddit

I was working retail and I wouldn't accept this woman's check because she didn't have ID. She called me an idiot.

I handed her check back and walked away.

I had customers complain to the manager because I couldn't find the item that was out of stock.

I had people complain to a manager because I wasn't smiling enough while I was stocking the floor with a new delivery.

People are assholes.

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delphinium4@reddit

I waited tables at a Ponderosa. People were the epitome of rude.

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Appropriate_Smell833@reddit

My first job was working at the JIB down the street from NBC in Burbank CA, some of my customers were Wheel of Fortune contestants, New Anchors and celebs, its was awesome!

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Zealousideal_Owl642@reddit

I worked at McDonald’s when I was in high school. Most of the time, people were ok, but on my first day, this old asshole screamed at me for not making his $1 ice cream bigger (even though I was making it as I was shown). What an asshole.

On the other hand, there were some very funny mispronunciations in the drive-thru (Filet Zero Fish, Mick-Dilt for the McDLT), and if we closed that night, we got to take home anything we wanted that was still there. So sorta not too bad overall. Pay was awful and I got conveniently scheduled for every holiday, which is why I quit.

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wharleeprof@reddit (OP)

We never got to take a single morsel home! It was all carefully counted up, documented, and then sent out as garbage. One employee was fired for eating a chicken sandwich back behind the dumpster. That was a big oooooh scandal, lol.

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Zealousideal_Owl642@reddit

Wow!! That is terrible. I used to bring home salads, chicken nuggets and take an ice cream for the road!

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kevbayer@reddit

Worked for a year at Little Caesars my senior year in high school.

I work a public facing job now.

Customers are no different. Most are fine, a few are grumpy or mean or whatever.

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Hiker615@reddit

I worked in the restaurant industry. I saw things. You do NOT want to piss off restaurant workers, if you want to eat the food...

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Weak_Employment_5260@reddit

I worked fast food but was always the grill man. Never had to deal with customers

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godcynic@reddit

I worked retail and fast food as a teenager. Most people were pretty cool but there were some real jerks. I don't know if it's much different today. We owned a restaurant for a few years until COVID killed it and people were pretty much the same as back then.

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daisymae25@reddit

I worked retail at a pet store and also as a cashier at at a convenience store in college. The people sucked back then too. Never forget where you came from.

My husband currently is a CSR in a call center. He makes great money, but I don't know how he's been doing it for over 9 years now.

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RealWolfmeis@reddit

They were rude then, even if they didn't think they were. There were the boors you're thinking of from today, but also the "I know everything and I'm going to waste thirty minutes telling you how to do your life" types.

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OnlyGuestsMusic@reddit

I did. People were always dicks.

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cholaw@reddit

Worked in retail. Customers have always sucked. We couldn't keep our jobs if we were rude, though

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PowerfulMind4273@reddit

I worked in fast food for a couple years starting at the age of 16 in 1986. The customers fucking sucked. So many were so damn rude and I even had a rifle pointed at me once! So no they were not more polite back then.

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pullmyfinger222@reddit

I worked an after-school job at a little local diner back in the mid-eighties, and the great/terrible customer ratio was around 98/2. I haven't worked customer service in forever, but from what I've seen, it's become a thankless job.

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Moist_Rule9623@reddit

Worked fast food late 80s-early 90s, and yeah the customers were rude enough that I preferred to just work in the kitchen when I could. I chalked some of it up to the fact that much of my customer contact was at the drive thru window

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EggForTryingThymes@reddit

I think so. I worked fast food in high school during the early 90’s. You’d have a few adult assholes who knew if they threw an embarrassing shit fit to a pimple faced kid would get his all fried chicken upgraded to all white at no extra fee.

But today it seems across all generations people are more impatient, and service workers are looked down upon even more today.

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thisgirlnamedbree@reddit

I worked at a 7-11 in the early 90s. For the most part customers were nice but we had a few jerks. One was the owner of a local florist shop who was known to be rude. He was obnoxious one morning, and I called him out on it. I told the owner, who was friends with my grandparents about it and he brushed it off, saying, "He's an asshole." I didn't get in trouble. 😃

We had people who got mad because the owner decided not to sell lottery tickets. He didn't like that we had to spend tons of time punching in a long list of numbers for the lottery regulars who only came for tickets, while customers who bought food and drinks had to wait in line to pay. I would tell them other places that sold lottery. I thought getting mad over that was stupid. To be honest, I was glad he got rid of the machine. I hated standing there getting a laundry list of numbers, and it was the same people every day coming in at the same time.

I think today, customers escalate the rudeness more, and some retail workers are less tolerant, so that's why we see videos of them cursing customers out, throwing stuff at them, and smacking them. I would never think of acting back because who knows who was packing back then. I wanted to stay alive.

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Seekshonesty@reddit

Had a pretty rude boss, got fired from a McDonalds for closing my line down to get a girls phone number. After the second time that day she fired me! Can you believe that boomer!

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jluvdc26@reddit

It was a different kind of rude. People could be demanding and loud, but they didn't tend to throw stuff at you or cuss as much. The people today aren't just rude, they are volatile.

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gbr1976@reddit

I worked fast food a couple of times from 17 to 19 and got some rude customers. Not very often, though. Same when I worked in a video store. I got more rude, entitled, asshole customers working customer service phone jobs than I ever did face to face.

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Breklin76@reddit

Worked as a courtesy clerk for my first W-2 job. People were mostly cool. This was early 90s. Things were good. Economy was good. People were able to buy groceries that they needed.

Then I went to work for my parents for the rest of high school. It was a health club so members were cool.

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AvailableOpinion254@reddit

I’d say as the years passed it’s gotten worse and worse and worse. The entitlement is what takes the cake now. Everyone thinks they are the most important and everything has to go perfect and their way with every exchange. And if it doesn’t it warrants the end of the world.

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boochie420@reddit

Customers were just as awful then as they are now.

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SpaceMonkey3301967@reddit

I worked at a Musicland record store. Does that count? People were nice enough.

We were robbed and stolen from so damned often. Detroit, Michigan USA area.

The teen kids gave me a hard time. They'd come in and fuck around. They sprayed deer urine in the store one time. Not cool, but I grabbed that kid and held him to the concrete outside, "You f'n piece of shit!! You just f-ed up my store!" (I did not hit him.) I was only 20 myself.

But, it was cool. When I moved locations to the store in Birmingham, MI (the posh side of town), I met celebrities. I met local sports and TV personalities, and Chris Cornell of Soundgarden as he wandered in drunk one Saturday after his show in town the previous night. He was so hammered. He asked me where the rock n' roll bars were. I said, "It's noon. None are opened yet" then gave him the local bar newspaper. He shook my hand and said, "Thanks, man! Thank you!" He was kind.

I didn't know who he was. I wasn't into grunge. I'm older. I was into early 80s punk. My era. My co-workers saw the interaction and were all, "That was Chris Cornell!! Soundgarden!"

I said, "Cool, but Elton John was in here last month."

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wharleeprof@reddit (OP)

I'm so jealous. There I was shlepping McDonald's in the food court while you had the cool job!

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SpaceMonkey3301967@reddit

Hey, don't get me wrong. I worked three jobs at a time. That was one of them. I was also a dishwasher/busboy then "promoted" to short order cook at Big Boy restaurant.

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dukesinatra@reddit

I worked the whopper board at BK as a teen. We were a 24 hr operation, and when people would order a burger from the drive-thru, I would stack the patties four high and add as much bacon as would fit between the buns. That was my gift to the world.

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KingOfTheFraggles@reddit

My first job was at an Indiana Dairy Queen, in 1988, at the age of 13. I remember people, especially older people, being every bit as rude then as they are today. Wanting something for nothing and openly disrespecting service workers is not a new phenomenon.

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JoyfulNoise1964@reddit

I was a waitress Customers were probably more polite but we workers were definitely dramatically more polite!

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AdhesiveSeaMonkey@reddit

My first real job, with a w-2 and all that, was Burger King. Started in 1982. I had my fair share of rude customers. Not a ton, but I feel it was an average amount. I think there are two things happening here. Crazy back in the day was much less self-righteous and entitled. Like, you could reason with almost everyone and come to a decent solution most of the time. The second thing is that none of what we went through was recorded. With all the recording and posting happening now, it seems like everyone is insane.

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Secure_Astronaut718@reddit

First job was at KFC in a small town. It was that or Dairy Queen and KFC was closer to home.

No outbursts or anything like we see today. Most people knew each other so you wouldn't want to do that.

We did have customers that had no problem coming in 10-15 min before close and order huge meals. We would let them know we had to heat up the fryers, and it would be about 30 min for the order.

"That's fine, we can wait"

We closed at 10 and all the employees had high school the next day. We would have to re-clean everything as well because of this.

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cawfytawk@reddit

My first job was McDonalds at the mall when I was 15 in late 80s so no drive-thru and cash only. I don't recall any customer being rude. Even if I got the order wrong they were polite and patient. It was a pretty good first job experience. The only tension would be is if we changed over the grill and stopped breakfast 5 minutes before the cut off time. I'd let the assistant manager handle those irate customers.

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NorraVavare@reddit

Nope. I worked the rides at the boardwalk. A ton of Karen's on vacation with screaming 5 year olds...

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peach_dragon@reddit

I worked at Burger King. People were rude, yes. I remember two incidences. One was where a man threw his change at me through the drive-thru window. That was awful.

Another time, the line was snaked all around the barriers inside, and everyone was in such a mood because of the wait. Most were very impatient and rude with me. But one lady near the middle of the line, when it came her turn, smiled the most beautiful smile at me and slowly asked me how I was doing. It was like a ray of sunshine. I'm pretty sure I thanked her and cried.

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PlaxicoCN@reddit

Worked at a supermarket, Wienerschnitzel, Burger King, as well as a security guard back then. I remember very few rude people in any of those jobs. I try to treat service workers like I want to be treated now.

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FloydianSlip5872@reddit

My first job was working for Pizza Hut in Billings Mt. Myself and 2-3 other kids had to answer the phones for delivery. First you had to take the order, then fax the order over to the nearest corresponding Pizza Hut nearest to the customer according to their zip code. That was in Jr high,9th grade. My dad made me quit one day because I got caught smoking and they let us smoke in the back while working.

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Lx_Wheill@reddit

One important thing to take under consideration is because we (well, I) worked in CS (customer service) and retail is that I know how customers can be rude and generally unpleasant which is why I make a conscious effort everytime I deal with the working crew of today (i.e. grocery shops, retail stores, etc...) with as much patience and virtue as possible.

I too think that it appears that today's "customers" appear to be much more impatient, selfish, and uncaring about the human condition especially the working conditions of today's youth working these minimum wage thankless jobs.

However this can be attributed to other factors, such as "richer" more "entitled" people thinking they deserve better that the rest of us, That whole "they get paid for this" mentality, as well as the fact that possibly they never had to deal with customers themselves, never having had to work in the field.

Everyone has a bad day. I won't start talking about how the employeurs treat the work force in such types of businesses (that has been catalogued earlier, elsewhere), but it happens that these employees aren't at their best and so maybe sometimes this sparks aggressive reactions from customers in retaliation.

But we're (mostly) all stuck in a similar situation: rise of the cost of everything, salaries which simply can't compete, job security and stability being basically non-existent... We all need to learn to try to cope with it, and be more conscious about how our own BS affects other peoples' lives when we allow our own struggles take the better of our temperents.

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essskaayeee@reddit

I worked in retail and at a pizza place. It seemed much less of an issue but there was always that one or two.

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CASUALxCHICKEN@reddit

I'm late GenX/early Millennial. Started in restaurants at 16 and working on my 29th year in the industry. There have always been rude customers in my experience. I can't say if there are necessarily more. If so, it could just be because the population in general is larger than it was. What I can say is that the rude ones have gotten more extreme and violent. I mean, someone has gotten shot in the face for putting too much mayo on a sandwich. Where I live, a couple of years ago, there was a teen seating tables at a restaurant who was violently assaulted to the point of unconsciousness by at least 5 people when they were told unless they wanted to wait a lot longer, their group would have to have 2 separate tables. Due to business and spacing they could not move 2 tables together. One of the women who assaulted him was just arrested again for assaulting a fast food worker last week. It happens too often now. I'm tired of seeing the mistreatment of the service industry. Retail workers have to put up with the same trash.

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crucial_geek@reddit

It blows my mind, but it also kind of doesn't, that customers don't get that you cannot just move two tables together. I get it from their perspective as it seems like it is not a big deal, but too many seem to refuse to see it from the restaurant's perspective.

Also, if you make a reservation for 5, do not show up with 8.

And if you show up with 8 without a reservation, suck it up and wait.

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CASUALxCHICKEN@reddit

Exactly. It was ruthless, though. He was like 16 and beaten down by at least 2 grown ass men and 2 women. Sent him to the hospital for just doing his job

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Stop-Being-Wierd@reddit

I hope that kid got a pay out

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CASUALxCHICKEN@reddit

I'm not sure. I imagine the family will sue, but I haven't seen any news about that. I don't think the aholes charges have been settled yet. I think that woman had her bond revoked for the 2nd assault, though. So, that's good

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_TallOldOne_@reddit

I worked a fast food restaurant for about 8 to 12 months and yeah we had rude customers. Although they were oddly most regulars who’d come in and act like a-holes. We had one person who’d come in damn near every day for lunch and immediately start bitching about how she wanted her fried extra crispy. I do gotta hand it to her though, she had us trained to toss a batch of fries in every time she walked in!

But no, we never had any of the crazy things you see on social media today…

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CyndiIsOnReddit@reddit

I worked at: Wendy's, Krystal, Taco Bell, and Captain D's, all in a really bad neighborhood, and I was in store during two armed robberies and I STILL say people were nicer back then. They were just more civil and less likely to pop off if their order was wrong. I don't do fast food much but these days it seems like we can't even get out of one without witnessing some angry verbal conflicts.

My daughter works retail now and it's a combination of people griping because they feel forced to use self-check or because they are mad the store doesn't have something they want ("The app says you have it!" -no the app says you can get it SHIPPED not that it's in our little neighborhood store!). My daughter has been sexually harassed like I was back in the day so the bottom slapping is still happening, and she gets so mad when customers tell her to smile. She is autistic and she's concentrating on her WORK, she's not there to smile mindlessly to provide some thrill for a customer, but the worst was said the other day: "Smile and be grateful you have a job!" with a finger wage by some morbidly obese old man in a red hat. He looked at her with disgust when he said it too, it wasn't some mild attempt at humor. He was DEMANDING that she smile.

And customer entitlement, man, that's really something else. She works in pick-ups and she has to keep up her pace but every day all day customers want her to fetch things, and it's more often than not a pointless hunt. She will show them "See the app says we don't have it" and they'll come back with "Well I KNOW you have it because I get it here all the time! It's Private Selection and I KNOW YOU HAVE IT!" .... "Ma'am, "Private Selection is another store brand. There is no way we carry it." But that's not good enough. She has to walk them to the place where they insisted it was and explain that their store brand has a different name, and the whole time they are shaking their head, insisting that it must be there and my daughter is hiding it out of spite. This is every single day, upper middle class older people who just think this is some 1890 general store.

And the reporting. Customers are CONSTANTLY reporting workers for "being on their phone". The "phone" is the handheld device they are using to set up orders. Customers get mad that they have to do self-check or wait in line. Every single day some old biddy will say "I thought they had to open a new register if more than three are in line!" No, that stopped back in the 90s, grandma. They decided to stop hiring cashiers so there's literally ONE single cashier. Nobody else is trained for that, they have other duties. And the kids watching over self-check aren't cashiers either. SO stop bloody asking or take it up with corporate. The people on the floor can't help it.

Yeah I could write a book on this. It's definitely worse.

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Fuk6787@reddit

No. Customers could be dicks then too.

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Katerinaxoxo@reddit

Yup had one guy who was a total a*hole. He would come in once a week and btch how this was the worst place and every time he comes in there’s always something wrong.

But week after week he would continue to come in.

Few years later I was working at a different fast food place and in walks that same guy and yup. He had the same crappy attitude and the same complaints but this time it was about this place.

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NotDougMasters@reddit

I slung pizza in the midwest from 16-18 - I honestly had to deal with some pretty rude customers, particularly on days when I was the only one working both the register and the oven (that's clearly a management thing, not a 16 year old notdougmasters decision). People were truly pretty awful. I think there's a prevalence of people capturing awful customers on video now that we're just seeing it more...not necessarily that there are more rude customers.

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worrymon@reddit

I worked in a toy store. Customers were rude and impatient and noisy and destructive. And their kids were no better.

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Electric-Sheepskin@reddit

I think since Covid, people are generally more rude than they used to be, but also, I think our tolerance for rude people is not what it was.

I encountered rude people when I worked fast food, and later in customer service, but it was my job to be polite, and smile, and maybe turn their mood around if I could, and if I couldn't, whatever. Sure, an asshole customer might upset me for a few minutes, but it was forgotten. It seemed like everyone felt that way.

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H3lls_B3ll3@reddit

No they weren't any better back then.

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LayerNo3634@reddit

I worked at McDonald's starting on my 16th birthday. Most customers were fine, but some were horribly rude. I will say it taught me to make change quickly. Try to pay with cash today. They don't know what to do.

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GenX50PlusF@reddit

Plenty of 80s Karens and male jerks came through Taco Bell.

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Fabulous-Profit-3231@reddit

Rude back then. Just more aggressive now.

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Arch27@reddit

I worked in a grocery store. People were just as pissy then.

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Taliesin_Chris@reddit

Ha. No. They weren't. Most people are polite and nice. But the ones that aren't actually make the job suck more than the nice ones make it good.

In the early/mid 90s my friend and I worked at the mall in retail. I had other retail jobs before that, and they all suck. Less than food service, but still up there. Two thoughts we had about it still live with me today.

We wanted to start an exchange program, where in our off hours we'd got to another store and when a customer is being a dick, tell them so. IT started with a guy in Walmart yelling at the manager because while the team helped him load this heavy thing in his car, how was he supposed to get it out when he got home. He's swearing, and ranting, and after every swear he turns to his <10 year old kid and goes "Earmuffs". Like dude.... that ship sailed.
Walking into the mall to start the shift and he goes "I never knew a building could want you dead." and that's how we felt about the place. Like it was alive and trying to kill us.

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Reverse-Recruiterman@reddit

I worked as a bus boy in an Italian restaurant in New York City from age 13 to 20.

I was polite. I was tipped well. I was respectful to everyone.

And so, they treated me the same way.

Kind of funny how that works: You show love. You get love.

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sayhi2sydney@reddit

I worked a pizza and cookies joint at a prestigious university in my hometown and I only ever had to deal with people who were in a hurry and were like NOOOOOOOOOOOO DON'T HEAT THE SLICE! But they weren't terrible about it. I just had a 'say what?' moment here and there.

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snarf_the_brave@reddit

I did fast food for years at some level all the way through my 20s. Customers sucked even back then. The first thing I'd tell a new employee is "customers are stupid, it's your job to manage the stupid." The difference today is that it seems folks have become more aggressive. Or at least social media makes it seem so. I would occasionally have customers argue with me and even get loud, but I never had one destroy my dining room, throw things, or threaten my employees. Not even when I would tell them that they were no longer welcome at my place and needed to take any future business to the restaurant across the street.

SO did retail for years. We both think that everyone should have to do a stint in retail or fast food just so they get a lesson in how to act right in public. Because of our past experiences, we both try to be sweet as pie and overly grateful to anyone working food service and retail because we know that, at some point during the day, they have to deal with stupid.

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Ysiriff@reddit

I worked as a bus boy/dishwasher at a small cafe in a very small town. Two bars, grocery stores, one cafe, etc. The customers were nice. There was a young waitress around my age, 15 or so. She wanted to get with me, so to speak. I said no on multiple occasions. Apparently, no wasn't going to work for her. I went to the owner, and a waitress was more valuable than a bus boy. I got fired even though I reported the sexual harassment.
Weeks or more went by and got a call. Hey, we really need a dishwasher. NO! Click

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lazygerm@reddit

I worked fast food in my early 20s near and on college campuses.

I can't really remember any rude customers. The worst I ever dealt with was a group of frat boys who came in at 9:50PM on Sunday night in the middle of the summer? We closed at 10PM. I had just locked the door at 9:45PM and had finished mopping the floor and vacuuming the rugs.

I let them in, took their order and made their sandwiches quick. They wanted to stay, but I was like no f'in way.

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Miscellaneous-health@reddit

In the 80s 90s, one out of 50 customers were very rude, now it’s 1 out of 50 customers are actually nice.

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GnG4U@reddit

I still carry a grudge about the woman who ordered a hot coffee at the ice cream window of Friendly’s in July. It was hot AF and she had walked over from a nearby office. I must’ve asked 3 times if she wanted hot or iced before getting it for her. B walked all the way back to her office with said hot coffee and then CALLED to complain it was hot! Manager made me walk over there with a free iced coffee to make up for it. Lots of smaller rudeness but that one sticks. Oh- and nasty older men “I’m not sure, are you on the menu” to HS girls when asked what they’d like to order.

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edasto42@reddit

I worked at Sears Parts and Service (not a regular Sears, but the place you went to drop off your lawn mower or vacuum or vcr when it was broken-or to get parts) and customers were trash back then too. I will admit, the nature of the business will gravitate towards being upset since somebody’s stuff is broken and we are supposed to fix it. But lord the shit I saw and dealt with. I’ll never forget some 70 year old dude throwing his 1974 tv at one of my coworkers because they couldn’t get parts anymore (this was in like 1993 maybe). But behavior like that was common. Had nightmares for a few years about angry customers hunting us down

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largos7289@reddit

Roy Rogers. Well yea there were rude people but not like today. I'll never forget the one time a guy came in ordered the fish sandwich. It was lent, the item is up on the board with the description. He comes back to the counter with a 1/2 a sandwich throws it on the counter saying, this has tartar sauce on it, i'm allergic and if i have to go to the hospital over this, i'm suing you. I was 17 dude, what did you think that was going to accomplish?? Plus i know now it was a empty threat. That and people complaining about things i have no control over. Like dude i make like 3.00 an hour I'm not corporate if you have a problem with a item take it up with them.

I did work at A&S dept store not much better, then I worked Price club membership and man the crap they pulled. I still work in a customer service field but it's flipped. They can be rude to me if they like just means i can walk out if I'm so inclined.

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fake-august@reddit

I worked at a video store (small independent) in a small town and basically everyone was nice. Except for a couple of Karens on Friday night be because their reserved video hadn’t been returned.

Also, front desk girl at a 5 start resort - most people were super nice but there are a few that stood out.

I feel like people are just awful to service people now.

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Surprise_Fragrant@reddit

In the mid-90s, my first "real" job was as a cashier at a tiny grocery store in a rural town in Florida. Everyone was fabulous. It was a yee-haw Hallmark movie, I loved it. My only problem there (if you wanted to call it that) was that I was very young, and all the other employee (mostly older women) kind of "adopted" me as their daughter and treated me as such.

I moved to a bigger town and worked at a mall food court fast food location, and I'd say that 90% of the people were nice. During busy times (like Thanksgiving - New Year's), there were more attitudes or rudeness on display. But nothing that I couldn't handle. Nothing that made me want to cry in a walk-in cooler or quit on the spot. Probably the most "rude" thing I can remember is when a customer was pissed off that there were tomatoes on his sandwich (after asking for no tomatoes), and he frisbeed that tomato across the food court and it stuck to the wall next to me while he screamed I said NO TOMATOES, motherfuckers! We all just laughed amongst ourselves, really.

These days, I think there's a combo of an increase in jerks PLUS an increase in wussie employees.

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Melodic-Comb9076@reddit

i did.

i don’t know because i don’t work retail anymore.

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she_slithers_slyly@reddit

In high school I was a waitress in the nicest town on my island. I remember spilling 4 large iced sodas into my customer's lap and I was genuinely so horrified and mortified at my clumsiness. I apologized profusely and this kind man tipped me the biggest tip I'd ever received at that point. I think it was like $50, which was astronomical back then. It was truly the Olympic Gold in Clutzin that I'd been working toward my whole life until...

A couple of years later I was in another state waitressing at a club. We were maybe 10 til close on a weeknight and the crowd had already thinned out so, like we all do, I began cleaning my section which is bi-level, with bar seats at the railing of the upper level. I had the empty mugs and bottles atop my tray and began wiping the bar top down when I tipped ever so slightly to reach and lost just the tiniest bit of balance of my tray and only one of the top-heavy beer bottles decided to take a plunge. Down in went....and back up it bounced, just a little, before landing again...right on his very pissed off head. My profuse apologies weren't able to break the throbbing, raging barrier of pain and anger coming out of this drunk dude. I'm pretty sure he sprouted a true to life Hannah-Barbera goose egg.

So now I have two gold 🥇 in Clutzin.

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Civil-Resolution3662@reddit

I worked at Jack in The Box in the 80s as my first job. People were generally not nice, especially at the drive through. I guess they did not understand the power we had over the ingredients in their food.

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Live-Cat9553@reddit

I think there was rudeness back then but not as much entitlement.

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Spazzy-Spice@reddit

I worked at a chocolate store in the mall. Wealthy elderly ladies were always super rude and entitled.

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LuckyAd2714@reddit

No

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warrior_poet95834@reddit

The closest I came to fast food was delivering pizza.

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Shot_Construction455@reddit

I did and people were rude af even then. The only difference I see is a manager may back you up today. Small chance, but it could still happen. Then...nah, you were getting fired and the customer was getting whatever they demanded.

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Balrog71@reddit

I worked at a local chain burger hut called Central Park in ‘87, and a Wendy’s for a few months in ‘89 as the guy at the counter or window. Central Park was actually fun. We were all little dopeheads and got orders kinda mixed up a lot but the customers usually seemed amused moreso than upset. A particular local news anchor would behave like he was angry at us for not knowing his order before he spoke at Wendy’s. The AH I really had to put up with was the top manager, but he got busted selling cases of bacon and other grifts shortly after I left. So the customers were usually alright..lot of silent and greatest gens left, rowdy kids from a nearby prep school..grumpy at worst. Never saw anyone smacked or full meltdowns like we see in videos sometimes these days.

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kbj1042@reddit

Fast food. People were rude then too but not as bad as now, in my opinion. I worked in a grocery store during the beginning of Covid. Good grief, people were awful! But I also can say that it was bad before that too.

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SSImomma@reddit

I worked in fast food and childcare. People were rude but it was very very different. Perhaps just not so entitled???

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AnitaPeaDance@reddit

It was a classic bell shaped curve: most people were meh, a very few super-sized assholes, and a very few overly friendly puppy dogs that needed to be shooed away.

We have a tenancy to remember bad interactions more than good or meh ones though just like people are way more likely to complain about poor food/service than compliment it.

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9inez@reddit

When I worked in an ice cream/restaurant place circa 1980, people would put out their cigs in the food and leave the butts stuffed in melted ice cream, globs of ketchup, remnants of burger buns, in the bottom of their unfinished drink, etc, for the bussers and dishwashers to sort out.

That was just pure ass evil.

I quit after a week and went to work in a hardware store. So much better than food service.

Bar tending in college offered so much more power over patron behavior than food. People get nice when you threaten to restrict their drug for shitty behavior.

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mfalkon@reddit

Starting in the early 90s I worked in fast food, pizza parlor, retail, and even Customer Service over the phone in my 20s. Some people have always been rude, others dismissive, and others nice. What seems different now is, much like politics and other facets of life, these differences are much more polarized and extreme. The rude people have escalated to being violent. The other side is so nice they feel bad for making that fast food worker actually do their job. Obviously this is better than taking a swing at someone, but sometimes it feels a bit much how far people go to prove they’re not the bad guys.

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CMButterTortillas@reddit

McDonalds. Late 90s.

They were rude as fuck.

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happycj@reddit

Does FotoMat count? I worked there for three days.

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DanielDannyc12@reddit

When people thought no one was watching they pretty much always sucked.

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Specialist-Shine-440@reddit

I worked in a very old fashioned department store in the glassware department in 1988. As far as I remember, the public were OK. The other staff were a touch snooty though!

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GoBluins@reddit

I worked at Pizza Hut from 1986-1988 and then during the summer of 1989 after coming home from college. There were plenty of rude, shitty customers back then. And OMG you can't believe what people do to bathrooms. Getting the closing shift should have required a hazmat team.

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Whydmer@reddit

You've just forgotten the rude ones then. I worked retail and food service in the 80's and retail in the early 90s.Rude entitled people were absolutely present. What I see now in observations and in talking to retail/food service workers is that the average person is more stressed and has a shorter fuse.

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Frank_chevelle@reddit

Worked at a McDonald’s from 1989 to about 1991 or so.

For the most part I liked it.

99.9% of customers were perfectly fine and were normal.

Had a a few customers that got upset but don’t recall anyone being rude. A few interesting customers stick out:

1) gross looking naked couple that came though the drive through early one morning. 2) mentally unstable dude who came in yelling things about ‘N-words’ until the police came.
3) lady upset I would not sell her items they only had at Burger King.

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handsomeape95@reddit

🎶 "Baby, don't you sign that paper tonight," she said

But I can't work in fast food all my life 🎶

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wtfbonzo@reddit

I’ve worked in customer service since 1993. Always in the Midwest.

People are way more rude and entitled now. The difference is that I own my business now and can tell them to F off. And I do. Don’t bring that energy into my business thinking I won’t match it. I won’t start it, but I’ll sure as shit finish it.

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mtcwby@reddit

Working retail as a teen was a shock. It turns out a lot of people weren't like family and more than a few were pretty dumb. Still remember forty years later some late 40s guy coming in with his family shoe shopping at the sporting goods store I worked at. He kept on making whiny comments because he didn't want to be there but he was taking it out on me. Grown man being a petulant whiner. Finally stood there, looked at him and said "Sir, I can't help your attitude" and he shut the fuck up embarrassed. The wife and teen kids had their eyes wide.

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lovebeinganasshole@reddit

Yes, yes I did. From the west coast: The most annoying was when they extended the light rail to my slightly remote suburb then I was having to tell hookers to leave my drive thru customers alone.

Also worked at a Marshall’s and had a customer throw clothes at me because she couldn’t find her cart, spoiler alert it was behind her!

Worked at a mall and was trying to go home, parking was at a premium, and people were trailing me to my car.

Of course two fools decide to fight over it and block me from leaving.

The worst part is they were so busy being dipshits they did not notice another person across from me, same lane, trying to leave too. That’s 20 minutes of my life I will never get back.

But then you know, dined on these stories for years over the solo cup of beer.

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gagirlpnw@reddit

I worked at fast food and then at a movie theater. They were incredibly rude, especially the after church crowd.

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YoureSooMoneyy@reddit

I never worked fast food but I had every other job in town. You were only allowed to work two days per week while in high school. For me that meant, two days per week, per job! So I worked everyday. From clothing stores, hallmark, Walgreens, ice cream places and restaurants. Mid to late 80s. South Florida.

I don’t have a single memory of a rude customer. Not one. I don’t remember any rude managers either. I think people were generally better behaved in public. I’m embarrassed for other people on a regular basis now.

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Fizzbin__@reddit

I think people today are less patient today so they get triggered easier. That goes for both sides of the customer service relationship.

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CompanyOther2608@reddit

I worked in a medical office; people were also crazy and rude.

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sotiredwontquit@reddit

Worked food service and retail both in late 80s / early 90s. People were rude. But not like today. Today people aren’t just rude, they are racist and will assault staff. That’s orders of magnitude worse.

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FlopShanoobie@reddit

Customers were more bored then, which meant they were less patient. Imagine having to wait 10-15 minutes for your order during a rush and you don’t have an iPhone. Just standing there waiting. The place I cooked at was an old school drive in with carhops, but also had tables. All of the to go orders were being handled by the carhops so they got the worst of it. The folks inside tended to be a little more patient.

But I recall loads of yelling over the intercom. The owner understaffed to save money so at most there’d be three people in the kitchen and we cooked everything to order. It would get stacked up.

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Saucy_Baconator@reddit

I did. And customers were really no better then. They're still dicks, but just maybe a little more brash about it now.

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KlareVoyantOne@reddit

Worked at McDonalds from ages 14-19. Never felt unsafe at my job, never had a customer throw food at me or a drink in my face for a wrong order. I feel sorry for fast food workers in today’s society. The entitlement and lack of respect is outrageous.

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GazeElectric@reddit

My first real job was at Burger King and I can't recall a single bad experience with a customer being rude. The managers on the other hand...

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sauvandrew@reddit

Worked at times Hortons as a teen. For the most part, people were much nicer.

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reallife0615@reddit

The customer’s attitudes are MOSTLY shaped by the service. I can’t remember the last time I had fast food service that didn’t remind me of my 4 year old and 5 of her friends “working.” In non-fast food establishments, it’s not much better, even though the prices are substantially higher. I worked in the service industry for 20 years and made a fuck ton of money. Then again, I took pride in the “service” aspect of the job and had bosses that would simply fire you if you were lazy, immature, or apathetic.

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O2BNDAC@reddit

Waited tables in college and I remember how crappy lots of patrons were. I try to be extra nice to servers and tip well.

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fadedtimes@reddit

People were still rude and entitled.

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RogerMurdockCo-Pilot@reddit

Our customers overall were great. I did have one irate customer throw money across the counter and a lot of it ended up on the floor behind the counter. He asked if I was going to pick it up. I said "No, I thought that's where you wanted it." My manager picked it up. Soon after that I was happily transferred to the kitchen.

I don't think I could work in modern day fast food. Karen culture, people getting assaulted, idiots filming people assembling food at Chipotle and posting it on socials. Fuck that.

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borderwulf@reddit

McDonald’s and ‘Round the Corner

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grateful_john@reddit

I worked at a Burger King in high school during the early 80s. I was the fry guy so I didn’t deal with customers. Our manager only had the cute girls work the counter, guys were relegated to the back.

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nhcareyjr@reddit

Deliverd for Dominos and yes, people have always been this rude. We just didn't see it as much because the internet wasn't a thing yet. If I went to 35 to 40 stops on a Friday night, 5 of those stops we shit shows.

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smpenn@reddit

I can't speak broadly to how customers are today, but I am, personally, far more polite and kind to service workers than customers ever were to me back in the 80s when I worked fast food.

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crucial_geek@reddit

The best customers seem to be current or former workers in the industry.

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PutPuzzleheaded5337@reddit

I worked part time at Bonanza when I was in high school. I also worked at a video store. People were absolutely assholes back then too but compound that with a terrible recession in Canada….it wasn’t like I could tell them to go fuck themselves. There was literally no work (I’m from the interior of B.C).

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crucial_geek@reddit

I spent about a total of 2 months between a Taco Bell and an Arby's before switching to real restaurants. It is my opinion that every single person, regardless of whatever, should be forced to work in the hospitality/restaurant/service industry for a total of 2 years between the ages of 18 and 20, and then with a mandatory 1 year stint around the age of 30.

We would be a hellofalot better as a society even with all of the differences.

I don't know if people were nicer back in the day, but I can say that expectations were higher all around. Civility mattered and customers were less likely to make a scene and kids were expected to sit down and shut up. These days, at least since Covid, too many customers now seem entitled.

But in general, you meet some of the coolest people ever and some of the worst that society has to offer.

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SubstantialPressure3@reddit

Yes. They were much more polite. The outrageous jerks and obvious crazies were easy to remember bc there weren't that many of them.

There was a huge shift in public behavior during/after the first lockdowns in 2020.

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CommonCut4@reddit

I worked in fast food in the mid eighties and I was probably ruder to the customers than they were to me. I just couldn’t believe how dumb most of them were. Like you’re 45 and can’t figure out what your coupon is? I’m 16 and I don’t know how you can find the word medium confusing.

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vankirk@reddit

No. I managed the busiest free standing Wendy's in the world (at the time) from 1997-2004.

I had food thrown at me, food spit at me, I was battered (physical assault) twice. I had a guy try to stab me. I had a guy grab me by the neck from across the counter.

People SUCK.

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3_Libras_@reddit

In the mid-80s when I was 16 years old, I worked as a waitress at a diner for a summer. The majority of the customers were ok. Some were rude, but I'll never forget how predatory a lot of the men were. It was a valuable social education for me.

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Ok_Cantaloupe7602@reddit

I remember the 50+ year old breakfast regular asking me out. When I was 16 and clearly a teenager.

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DeFiClark@reddit

Worked in a restaurant bar in a mall — folks were more polite in general, but like any bar we had to call mall security or the cops for obnoxious drunks every so often. I don’t remember much rudeness

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MyriVerse2@reddit

My experience is from the late 80s New Orleans area: I worked Baskin-Robbins, a sit-down restaurant, and a couple other service jobs. The vast majority were very polite. It was the few bad apples that ruined the experience.

There was one guy who swore he gave me a $100 bill. He was ready to get physical when my manager showed up. We went through the till and there was nothing over a $20. I turned out my pockets, even. And he still left screaming curse words.

I have no professional experience with today's customers, but I've never actually witnessed a dispute at fast food more than: "oh, you got my order wrong" - "sorry, here it is." (same New Orleans area)

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caryn1477@reddit

Yup, McDonald's in the late nineties. Thankfully I don't really recall a terrible customer. Though I think employee attitude has definitely gone downhill. Most of the time they don't even look at me or even say hi when they thrust my bag out the window at the drive through. I can't imagine doing that. Not a word, I just get the bag shoved in my face.

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Academic_Airport_889@reddit

Supermarket most customers were nice except one racist lady who told my manager to go back to the jungle - awful

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unconscious-Shirt@reddit

30 years ago as a divorced single mom I worked at Taco Bell for almost 6 years. People were way less rude except for late night drinking and driving customers. The herbally infused were cool though...

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watch-nerd@reddit

Yes, I did work fast food.

I have no idea how the customers were. I was always in the back in the kitchen.

Cute girls were picked for the customer facing roles.

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Stay_At_Home_Cat_Dad@reddit

I worked at Burger King, Arby's, and in a couple of grocery stores. I would eat a bullet before I would go back to a customer service job. I've been out of that for over 20 years now. I can't imagine customers have gotten better, and my tolerance for bullshit now is absolute zero.

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Mad_Zone_@reddit

I had someone throw a salad at me when I worked at Wendy’s in the 90s

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Bastyra2016@reddit

I worked in a restaurant in the 80s both as a “block girl”,waitress and cashier. Most people were unremarkable. The worst was the after church crowd. They would come in mass and look down on us heathens for working on Sunday then leave a whole $1 tip for four grown adults (average ticket for 4 would have been ~$30). The one difference that I see between now and then is at least then they would make eye contact and speak. I no longer work at a restaurant but the number of people who stare at their phone with earbuds in and completely ignore the server/never make eye contact amazes me. I’ve had to prod a few folks in front of me like at the grocery store to look up and answer the cashier. I shop with earbuds but out of respect I either remove them or cut the music and engage superficially with the cashier so they know I’m not completely ignoring them.

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PV_Pathfinder@reddit

Worked retail for 10 years at a video store. It was an independent, neighborhood place. So everyone knew each other. 99.9% of the customers were great and many were just as passionate about movies as those of us on the staff. It was a relatively diverse (for the 90s) customer base, so it was great exposure to many walks of life and lifestyles.

The .1% that were assholes, everyone knew what to expect and still tried to treat them as politely as possible.

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Informal_Platypus522@reddit

No, people are way more rude and triggered these days, it’s not even close. But social media and instagram has played a huge role in that.

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hazelquarrier_couch@reddit

I worked in department stores and grocery stores until my 20s. I would say they were polite in different way: thank you, you're welcome, hold the door, etc. But the older folks had a tendency to not filter what they were saying about other people and god help you if you got their change wrong on a transaction. I remember distinctly older generations openly talking about people's size to their faces or bringing up differences in ethnicity or wealth. Another thing: I think social status was more important. I remember helping a lady find some sort of canned food and she told me to have it charged to her account. When I asked her name she got offended that I didn't already know (she ran a popular local restaurant that had been in business since the stone age).

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Left-Thinker-5512@reddit

I worked in a pizza shop as a teenager in the early-to-mid 80s. Customers were more polite but I also think the workforce was also better educated in manners and how to speak to people.

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tc_cad@reddit

People were pretty chill when I worked a BK as a teen. The craziest it ever got was late at night when a drunk would order at the drive through.

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satyrday12@reddit

I've done both fast food and retail in the 80s and 90s. Retail customers were MUCH worse.

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ProperSilver9073@reddit

I worked in the mall, a hotel restaurant and a KFC. The hotel restaurant was a little more high end, there were swanky assholes there from time to time. I don’t recall any overtly rude people at KFC. From how I see people behave in public now, I suppose they were better behaved then.

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deadweights@reddit

I worked a sit down restaurant with a Sunday buffet that was extremely busy after church let out. I’d say about half were benignly annoyed because they had to wait 45 minutes for a table or the sausage gravy was lumpy.

The rest, however, were condescending and rude. Snarky, backhanded comments, insultingly low tips ($2.25 an hour baby), and a shocking level of classism. They were well-off, we weren’t and they loved to remind us in subtle but clear ways.

So different but still rude.

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tawnyfritz@reddit

A woman that a hot dog at me at the movie theater concession counter bc she didn't know it would be so expensive so... No. There have always been nutters out there lol

I think we just see it more these days bc it gets posted to social media.

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Kestrel_Iolani@reddit

Never far for but a ton of retail. They were still rude but it was more of a rare occurrence.

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Sufficient_Stop8381@reddit

I was lucky, I worked in construction. That way I expected to hear cursing and wild sex tales all day.

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Haunt_Fox@reddit

Not so much rude, but a couple of "drunk and violent"s stand out.

1986, I was working nights in a coffee shop on the corner of Queen stW and Dufferin in Toronto. Most customers were regulars, and were pretty tame, even the ones from the ... hospital ... down the street. I got so I had their regular orders memorized.

But one night, I had these two random drunks roll in. They were loud and obnoxious, which was one thing, but then they started picking on this one group of regulars in the back, who hung around the table-style video games (we had Ms Pac-Man and Tiger Heli). I did holler at them to behave themselves a couple of times, but these were two big idiots, and I'm barely 100 lbs. So the regulars keep their cool and politely get them to step outside to settle their differences, but on the way out, the younger Idiot saw fit to kick the door and shatter the glass. Which resulted in a call to the cops, who were in their way for their doughnuts and coffee anyway. They all got hauled off, but the regs were back in a half hour after giving their statements. Funny thing is, I'm now pretty sure those regulars were drug dealers. 🤣 One of 'em would occasionally run outside for a few minutes, but it wasn't really any if my business anyway as long as they behaved and bought coffee once in a while.

Another time happened in a Taco Bell in my home town. Was cleaning up after closing. It was at least a half-hour after because I was mopping up the floor, when this random drunk rolls up wanting in. I indicated we're closed. He kicks the glass. More cops. He got caught and arrested across the street because he went over to a 7-11 and tried to steal a candy bar or something stupid.

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quaglandx3@reddit

Early 20’s, and no people were always assholes to fast food workers.

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MutantSquirrel23@reddit

I've worked in customer service off and on for over 20 years. It has definitely gotten worse. There have always been rude people, but the average customer nowadays has become much more demanding, entitled, self-absorbed, and all around just plain stupid.

Take your standard drive through ... It astounds me the number of people who act like DT is a new invention that hasn't been around for decades and can't seem to figure out how it works. From skipping past the ordering speaker, to walking up to the pickup window on foot and trying to order, to calling all their friends WHILE they're at the ordering speaker to find out what they want, to fumbling around their car for their payment for 5 minutes AT THE WONDOW after they've been sitting in line for 5 minutes, to leaving the Grand Canyon in between their car and the window when they pull up and expecting the employee to hang out by their toes to reach them, to having a loud ass phone conversation on their car speakers and ignoring the employee or getting offended that they would dare attempt to interrupt their conversation to take care of them, to dumping trash out their car door or leaving it on the window sill of the pickup window, so many people are just the worst. And these are just a few generalized examples off the top of my head that I see every day. I won't get into some of the specific instances of insanity I've experienced.

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jasnel@reddit

Worked fast food in the 80’s and customers have always been difficult. Especially in the drive-thru.

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Mondschatten78@reddit

I worked fast food and retail up through 2011 or so. For the most part, customers were pretty chill, even if an order was wrong or the store was out of something they wanted. Once in a while though, we'd get that one customer that would wind up screaming at the manager and threatening to call corporate.

One particular woman brought her food back in because it wasn't made right. Remade it according to her receipt/what she told us she wanted on it. Comes back in threatening to call corporate because it still wasn't right, and demanding a refill on a specialty drink because her daughter (a teen) kicked it over in the car. Boss finally told her to leave (and not come back) or he was calling the cops.

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MNConcerto@reddit

I worked full time at McDonald's one summer, breakfast hours.

It was fun, fast and I worked with the same group of people.

We had a couple of regulars who were very specific about their orders but once you got it down there were no issues.

I think people were more polite

AND the managers didn't put up with anything because I remember our morning manager getting on the drive through line and sticking his head out the window yelling at a car full of teenage boys for being jerks. He didn't let anyone harass us.

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HermioneMarch@reddit

Most people were but I remember getting yelled at because a lady’s special order wasn’t right, because the fries had too much/ not enough salt, and for getting the wrong drinks. Honestly my stint at McDonald’s was one of the hardest jobs I ever had. Managers were not forgiving when I didn’t remember how to reassemble the ice cream machine ( after one demonstration) and when my drawer came up short once I was sent to the back to flip burgers. My feet hurt for hours after I went to bed. I don’t know how people do that kind of work all their lives. Your body and soul would fall apart!

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Agitated-Dish-6643@reddit

I worked at Dairy Queen in 1994, and I loved it. I remember enjoying going to work. Granted, we were putting vodka in our Mr. Misty's. 🤣🤣🤣

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Engineer5050@reddit

Yep, I worked for one year at McDonalds in High School in Illinois. Only a few months up front before moving to the grill which was more money. I don’t ever remember people being especially rude etc.

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santoslhallper@reddit

I did in the mid 90s. There were definitely rude and condescending customers but most were fine. I can still picture one lady who was completely ridiculous.

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GardenDivaESQ@reddit

I worked fast food, all stations and there were always rude customers. Or my favorite, the customer with the bizarre request. “Can I have a cup of pickles?” 😂 Or the drunk ones were always a treat. I don’t know if it’s worse or not.

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Smooth-Apartment-856@reddit

I worked at McDonalds in high school. I never dealt with the customers, though. I was in the back working the grill.

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Hot_Study_777@reddit

I can say this having worked in customer service. It goes both ways. Workers were definitely friendlier back in the day than they are now too.

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Fun-Distribution-159@reddit

not as bad as today, but still not good

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EasilyLuredWithCandy@reddit

No, they were not. They were just as rude and demanding then.

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rockandroller@reddit

I grew up in the midwest and people were anything but polite in the foodservice jobs I worked. But department stores were even worse.

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mommaTmetal@reddit

When I was 15, I worked at a pizza place between two bars. No, the customers were not nicer.

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SlidersAfterMidnight@reddit

K-Mart Sports & Auto. Customers were nice.

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AHippieDude@reddit

I worked both retail / restaurant in my teen/ early adult years.

I'll give the "waffle house" example because the shenanigans gets lots of attention .

When I was 17, working 3rd shift at waffle House a dude being a shit grabbed the resister trying to steal it and the manager sprayed him right in the mouth with the pit hose, gave dude 3rd degree burns to go along with the attempted robbery charges.

The same store had fights regularly and even two murders.

One time sitting in a waffle house a dude just walked in, broad daylight afternoon, beat the waitress down and walked right back out in 20 seconds.

As a server I had a customer give me a hit of LSD in the middle of my 3rd shift ( among many other drug related acts in waffle house )

We had a drunk who walked out on a bill and then drove his car in...

... It was bad "then" too, but you see it more with constant media

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Hey-buuuddy@reddit

This used to be a standard rite of passage for all teenagers. Work somewhere- anywhere. I don’t remember anyone being picky or complaining about it. After school, evenings and weekends. Grocery stores, fast food, whatever. Summers had a better variety of jobs in New England- there were still a lot of rural “resorts” and campgrounds. Personally I did construction in the summers through college and loved it.

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SciFi_Wasabi999@reddit

I worked in a Chinese restaurant in the Midwest and while most people were fine, about 5% were a nightmare. They'd come in and demand crazy stuff (like cash from the register or free wine "because I'm friends with the owner"). Once a glass from the washing machine exploded in the face of a server and the customer started laughing at their bleeding face. That's when I realized some people are absolute psychopaths.

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_ism_@reddit

I don't remember the customers at my teen jobs at all. I worked fast food and basic retail jobs as an adult too and even to this day I can still picture and remember the scene of customers who made me cry or customers who humiliated me. I definitely have a sense that people in general behaved better in public back in the day.

Not sure that means they were more polite but it's possible

Or else I just stopped looking young and cute which gave them permission to abuse

i dunno.

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cheguevarahatesyou@reddit

Answer to the first question: I did

Answer to the second question: Wouldn't know because I haven't worked fast food in decades.

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MissDisplaced@reddit

I worked in a grocery store in high school in the 1980s and yes people were much more polite in public places. Maybe you’d get an occasional odd or confused elderly person, or picky lady about her bagging, but never full on adult meltdowns like you saw during the pandemic and STILL see in stores.

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celticfrog42@reddit

Yes, there were rude customers. I don't work customer service now, so I can't compare, but I'd say we didn't have social media and the internet to amplify the nonsense and humans are designed to forget the small, repetitive annoying things in life.

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702PoGoHunter@reddit

I worked at Sears in high school in the hardware / Paint / Lawn & Garden departments. People were behaved way more than they are now. The entitlement these days is just insane. People also controlled their children. They were afraid of shamming I believe.

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ResponsibleType552@reddit

I didn’t have anyone like in the YouTube clips you see today but there were plenty of shitty a d condescending people in the 90s

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EricinLR@reddit

I worked at Little Caesars and Subway during high school - both in the same shopping center. Never once had a customer be intentionally mean enough to cause a worker to cry - that was commonplace in my retail 15 years later managing camera stores at the turn of the century.

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Bellona_NJ@reddit

The Karen level we see nowadays, IMO, really started to rear its ugly head at least 10-15 years ago. But the intensity of entitlement had its uptick since the paninini 5 years back. At least back in the 80s, there was some politeness when asking for freebies.

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PMMEBITCOINPLZ@reddit

No they were assholes.

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PacRat48@reddit

I remember everyone being more polite, but workers were expected to put more effort into making the customer feel welcome. Some customers took advantage of this, but many more appreciated it.

Workers today seem much more aloof.

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Stardustquarks@reddit

“Look, just put your little hand back into the cash register and give me my two dollars and seventy-five cents back, please...Brad….”

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Reader47b@reddit

I don't recall rude customers, but my manager was rude and mean.

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Poultrygeist74@reddit

Two restaurant jobs I had I worked in the back, so I can’t say much about rude customers. When I delivered pizza people were mostly okay, only had a few that were rude. One guy called me a shithead because I wouldn’t give him a discount for “late” delivery (it wasn’t late). I got back to the store and called him, I said if he didn’t like our service and insulted our employees, to please order from somewhere else. My boss was kinda pissed at first, but the other drivers backed me up and that guy was banned.

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Cheesqueak@reddit

Waiter and grocery store clerk. No customers were assholes back then too. Especially the required pay to work Sundays because they never tipped. A lot more open sexual harassment and outright grabbing my junk as a minor by older women. If I complained I was just gay

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The_Observatory_@reddit

Yes to customer service, no to the idea that people in general were more polite then than they are now. I don’t see a very big difference in how service workers are treated. Then as now, the majority of people are polite, and then you get a few people who are rude. I don’t think human nature has changed noticeably in 30-40 years.

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Status_Silver_5114@reddit

Worked in a bakery on a summer people island. People weren’t as aggressive and I wasn’t worried about fights breaking out or people having a gun. None of this talk to the manager shit. Maybe more polite isn’t the word bht definitely not rude the way people can be now. It’s not the default (the rude) but when it’s bad it’s really bad.

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swinks22@reddit

Hardee's cashier in highschool and I totally agree. You never see the crap people have to deal with today. One time an older couple asked for no salt on their fries but they received them salted. There was no argument, just nicely came up to me and asked if I could make another batch. This was Wisconsin.

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Own_Okra113@reddit

I’ve never worked retail or customer service, more a blue collar/outdoor guy. I make it my mission in life to be polite and kind to those that serve me when we go out, and we tend to tip a bit higher in cash. That being said, customer service has gone to shit across the board lately. Not sure why, but goddamn, it’s getting ad out there.

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newgalactic@reddit

I experienced plenty of rude customers in the late 80's and early 90's. I experienced lots of customers who would claim their order was different than it initially was. Also, customers who were trying to trick you into giving more change than they deserved.

But I've never experienced a violent customer.

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fridayimatwork@reddit

Working in fast food wasn’t great, but waitressing in a bar was the worst. People felt entitled to touch.

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JollyGiant573@reddit

A lot.less Karens for sure.

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Environmental-Leg442@reddit

My first job was at a theme park. I had just turned 16. I recall having a couple of abusive patrons, one who called me a fat ass and another who told me to shove a game token up my ass. I’m like, “Hello, I’m only 16!”

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jad19090@reddit

I did both and there was a mix of both honestly.

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Grand_Taste_8737@reddit

Worked in a grocery store through high school and college. There were rude people then just as there are now.

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Tired_Mama3018@reddit

“I want HOT coffee, make it fresh, and make it HOT” makes a new pot “I SAID HOT!!!!”

You worked at McDonald’s, I know you had that person.

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kalalukamahina@reddit

Donut counter in ‘81 and yeah… lots of people were assholes.

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catvaq02@reddit

I worked at Wendy's in high school. The customers were 50/50 on niceness. I think the biggest difference was how we behaved. Some customer service reps today are really rude. Actually alot of them are. The truly act like they are doing us a favor taking our order. Instead of it being their job and the should be polite.

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MichaSound@reddit

I worked as a supermarket cashier. Most people were nice, but there would always be a significant smattering off assholes who thought service staff were below them, and that it was acceptable to take out their bad day on you,

Plus, of course, plenty of guys who thought that because I was paid to smile and act nice, that meant I was interested in them romantically/sexually…

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Disastrous_Friend_85@reddit

I worked at a snack shop on the beach on the Jersey Shore. We served hot dogs, pre-made sandwiches, chips, and candy. I don’t remember any rude customers. Fun summer.

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KitsMalia@reddit

I worked at Arby's for 3 years and also worked at Hardee's for a short time in college. I saw my fair share of rude customers. The only physical assault I saw was someone throwing fried chicken at my friend who was working the drive-thru. The rest was all verbal abuse. It's hard to say if it's worse now. We definitely see a lot more of what happens due to everyone having cameras in their hands now.

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dangerous_skirt65@reddit

I spent quite a few years working in restaurants even while my children were young. There were plenty of rude people, entitled people, impatient people. I think it just depends on the individual.

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StalledCentury1001@reddit

Are you serious??? People used to wear decent clothes to go into an establishment now it’s a zoo no one cares about appearance and it’s soooo sad I still put on jeans or pants if I go into a store I like gym shorts but I’m not parading around Walmart or Publix in that because my grandma told me to look presentable and look at the old days of suit wearing men and dressy women maybe that’s little to much but just fitting clothes that aren’t pajamas

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mat6toob2024@reddit

some were rude, but we were empowered to be rude back. there was no phones taking pictures and no social media to cry to, so if someone gave you shit, you could just not serve them or give them shit back.

and also the other customers supported the employee, there was no backlash against big business if it was a McDonald (btw they are franchised not company owned) and small diners were mom and pops , so customers wanted a nice experience, they did not like the rude customer. Social media had empowered the rude

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jazzbot247@reddit

I was a supermarket cashier and I worked in a borough of New York City in the 90s and people were horrendous. I was a 16 year old girl making minimum wage and people swore at me, threatened me, threw things at me and were generally unkind. They honestly thought I was charging them incorrectly when all I did was scan a bar code. When we did do a price check 90% of the time the customer had the wrong size item. I no longer live in the NYC area and I've noticed people are kinder now in the place I've moved to.

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heydamjanovich@reddit

While in my teens and early 20s I have worked a number of retail, customer service and had a short stint as a bartender. I have experienced customers who yelled at me, insulted my appearance and one who tried to assault me.

Overall, I don’t think people are any nicer today to front line staff than they were 20+ years ago. What has changed is how people express anger, displeasure or expectations. What has changed for both customers and service workers is the expectations around what is “service.” Think about it, go to your local grocery or big box store. The humans working spend very little time actually serving customers. These company’s call it customer service but it is not. They stock shelves, manage check out lanes and offer some directional help.

On the other hand when there was more smaller retailers, local department stores and locally owned restaurants they had an expectation of product knowledge and developing customer relationships. Over time, the “big box” mentality has degraded our expectations of what what good service is and should be.

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itoshiineko@reddit

I worked at McDonald’s and other mall food places as a teen. I once had a guy blow his cigarette smoke in my face. Another time I got told to smile because I looked like I wanted to murder someone. The final kicker was when a customer lied about my then boyfriend saying he cussed at him. Got him fired on the spot. People were not more polite then.

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YogurtclosetBroad872@reddit

My first job was at Dunkin Donuts in 1990. I recall a mix of customers. Some really nice that tipped well, some picky older ones, and some straight up rude ones mad at the world. Nothing stands out as much different than today since I have a kid that now works in a similar role and all the stories sound the same

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JJQuantum@reddit

I’m not sure they were any more polite. It’s just that there wasn’t social media on which to post every incident when they were assholes. Yes, I worked in fast food.

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Ff-9459@reddit

I worked a lot in customer service as a teen/young adult. It was awful and a big driver to finish college as quickly as possible. Customers were always extremely rude.

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fqdupmess@reddit

I work in a grocery store when I was a teenager and adult now, customers suck. back in the 90s if you weren't way out of line you could put one in their place if they did the shit they do today but with online competition and more box stores my company wants great customer service so we have to put up within it

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Calgaryrox75@reddit

I think everyone should have to do time in either fast food or retail as a young person. You really get to see the scourges of society that way. you’ll realize not everyone is nice and some people are absolute shit stains to deal with. You’ll quickly loose the “Christmas in your eyes” sensibilities most young people have. Sad but this is life.

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mehitabel_4724@reddit

I had a public facing job in a library through high school and college, which you’d think would be chill, but we definitely had our share of rude patrons. I don’t remember any actual tantrums, but people would get mad about their overdue fines or books not being available or waiting in line to check out. One guy was so ridiculous about his fines that the librarian literally told him, “Sir, you are a loser.”

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wharleeprof@reddit (OP)

Kudos to that librarian!

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rulerofthewasteland@reddit

My first job was Target in early 90, and customers would try to get me into trouble for wearing a pair of oxblood docs to work. One lady even said I scared her. Never got in trouble for it. It was difficult being a weirdo back then and finding a job. I think people are more insane these days in general.

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petshopB1986@reddit

I survived 1 day at McDonalds went home, threw up never went back.

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Positive_Chip6198@reddit

I worked at mcd. Customers were often super rude. I actually think that has improved over the years in eu.